The Saturn Junkyard was always intended to be a Saturn site, with the odd "off-topic" post.It's inspiration was, of course, the Dreamcast Junkyardwhich remains faithful to it's chosen topic to this day...

Now I've got the chance to keep the SJY a site which remains pure to the Saturn and retro gaming, but also have the chance to explore other topics as I wish! Sweet!

It's very much a work in progress at the moment, but I hope you'll check in on it as it grows and develops. Expect a lot of video padding until I get it up to scratch and work out a decent balance between home life, gaming, blogging and 'blog hopping'.

The links on the sidebar of the new page are ones with URLs that I could remember off the top of my head, so don't be put out if yours is not there my blogging homies, they will come soon enough!

Until then check it out, make some suggestions and give me some feedback. The three posts on it are a little taster of what might be included in future posts. Thankyou for your cooperation, you may now go about your business.

Tuesday, 27 February 2007

Remember how a few weeks ago I said that I was putting my games purchases on hold? I was going to stop purchasing games, because I had a massive backlog that needed playing through?In fact I wasn't going to purchase a new game until May... When I turn 40, and then I was going to get a Wii right? Until then I was just going to play through my collection, and sift through the mound of unplayed and unfinished titles for the Dreamcast, the Saturn, the Sega Gamegear, the Master System and so on...

Did I say Master System? Oh that's right... Master System Mondays... Where I was going to play and review a Master system game on the odd Monday... Hmmm... Right.... *COUGH!*

Well I've broken my pledge to abstain from Game buying... I've bought "The Mansion Of Hidden Souls" for the Saturn, a retro stroll through a strange stately home full of intrigue...

I'll give you a taster of what the game is about... Heres the blurb from the back of the box...

"As a bright crimson moon rises over the Mansion of Hidden Souls you and your companion Mike enter into a fascinating RPG adventure.Roaming around the huge chambers of this grand house you meet the elder of the mansion who asks you to investigate the appearance of the moon and find out what is happening in the mansion.As you progress deeper and deeper into the building you meet a host of spirits who inhabit the eerie corridors and rooms within the mansion, each one with its own dark and mysterious past.Solve riddles and logical puzzles to unravel the sinister plot of theft and murder!"

Woooo!!!! Spooky eh? But spooky in a gentle non-zombie way... Price? Three of her majesty's English pounds! Not too shabby! Read a damning review here...and a more favourable one of the same game on Sega CD here...

ReviewMansion of Hidden SoulsBy: Ken Horowitz November 7, 2005Despite bad press and slow sales, developers in the early to mid 90s continued to pursue full motion video games as a viable genre. Unsuccessful for the most part, there were a few titles among the crap that actually seemed to have some potential. One of them was Vic Tokai's spooky thriller Mansion of Hidden Souls, an on-rails adventure which straddled the line between FMV game and digital comic. It made a decent enough attempt, but lamentably stumbled in more than a few places.The entire premise surrounding Mansion is a somewhat strange, though it may not seem so now, in this age of debris-pushing interstellar princes and portable dog-raising. Back in 1994, though, it was more than a little weird. When Jonathan's little sister finds a butterfly in an open field, she wishes she could turn into one. In a flash, she disappears inside a mysterious mansion. Luckily for her, she's in good company, as the house is populated by other butterflies - all of which used to be people too. The problem is, unless Jonathan can rescue her before the mysterious "hunter" reaches her first, she'll be permanently transformed into a butterfly and added to the mansion's collection.To save his sister, Jonathan enters the mansion, exploring rooms and solving puzzles. Viewed through a first-person perspective, the adventure places you in one room after the next, searching for clues and talking to the insect inhabitants - all of whom are very forthcoming with information. Gameplay is very simple, as the spooky house - big and filled with plenty of places to explore - never becomes too unnavigable.

Therein...unfortunately, is where the problem lies. Sure, the house is easy to navigate, and the puzzles won't take hours to complete. What happens is that this user-friendly gameplay makes the game more than a bit too easy, meaning you'll blow through the whole thing in about two hours. The main culprit is the on-rails movement system. As you enter a room, you're taken from the entrance to the only points of interest inside, with no middle points in between. The rooms are very well-detailed and look great, with video that's quite clear despite the Sega CD's terrible compression. This is all well and good, but you can't touch anything. Heck, you can't even look at most of what's around you.That's probably the single biggest problem with the whole game. When I'm told to explore a mansion, I really want to explore it. Moving through a huge room all the way to the back, just to look at a bookcase, doesn't impress. Let me look at everything, let me roam freely! I know this may have been too much to ask for a Sega CD title, but this was a CD title. Wasn't the whole point of Sega's little add-on to push gaming to "the next level"?Once you get past this significant hurdle, there is a nice little game to be played. As I stated earlier, the environments are very pretty, and there's plenty of dialogue. The added use of the Mega Mouse makes the already basic navigation a breeze. Too few titles made use of it, and to see it used here was a nice surprise.I do love how Mansion of Hidden Souls' case portrays is as though it were a 16-bit Resident Evil. The actual product couldn't be any further removed from Capcom's flagship series. You'll never be scared while playing, and while the soundtrack (done by the great Yuji Nomi) and graphics do come off as eerie and foreboding, there's never a truly terrifying moment. This didn't bother me too much, as I never really expected a scarefest. I actually prefer the atmosphere it projects, to be truthful. The emphasis here is more on exploration and puzzle-solving than survival, which lets you focus on the mystery itself.At the end of the day, it all comes down to gameplay, and that is something that Mansion of Hidden Souls does an adequate job at delivering. Though limited and all too straight-forward, the experience is a pleasant one (much more so then the Saturn pseudo sequel). As long as you're not expecting Enemy Zero or even D, you should enjoy the few hours of play it offers. After that, there isn't really much left to do. Still, play through it once and see one of the early FMV thrillers. It's a unique experience on the system, and a pretty good one at that.Score: 6

Talking of that game, the zombie one, yes I'm still playing it... Hopefully I'm getting somewhere, but I'm probably deluding myself... Yesterday I was fobbing it off for good. I posted as much on the strangely addictive Planet Dreamcast Forum yesterday... Then as soon as I got in from work tonight I sloped off to play it... It's like crack... Compulsive but in no way good for you.

No doubt if I do complete it I'll be raving on about how fabulous it is... Ho hum!

I've also crumbled and bought Resident Evil Deadly Silence for the DS... Yeah that's now four titles of a franchise I supposedly "hate". Sometimes my own fickle and contrary nature makes me chuckle... Sometimes I infuriate myself.

"So RE DS, dear Father? - What gives?" Well it's a port of a port if I've got me homework right... Having already re-made the original PS1/Saturn RE, for the Gamecube, Capcom decided to shrink and miniaturise it so it would fit into the tiny world of the DS.

Two great ways to play:Classic Mode : The Original High Tension Resident EvilRebirth Mode: A new high octane action intensive game.Multi-Player and More:Join up with 2-4 friends and scream together in a specially created map.Bonus mini game - Master Of Knifing" (I kid you not!... No doubt the touch screen/stylus element of the game)

For the Dreamcast comes a highly reccomended RPG "Skies Of Arcadia" and my second copy of Light Gun classic "Confidential Mission"... That's correct dear reader, my second copy, (it was a steal I couldn't resist it...)

This week I set up an experiment... I was going to email J of (J's Corner Of Randomness),via my Dreamcast and his Wii... It took me bloody ages to get online with the Dreamcast and when I did, the ancient 33K Modem and Popmail would not work with my ISP AOL! Bah!It was supposed to be a historic melding of last gen and next gen console... A beautiful communication across the Millenium, from last century innovation to today's technology...

So much for fucking bright fucking ideas...

More disappointment followed when my recently unearthed Atari 2600 failed to spring to life, with a Tandy Universal Adaptor... But I'm still not sure whether it is the console or the plug, so at the moment it's in stasis with that bloody Saturn steering wheel...

Talking of which, the tit who sold me that hunk of shit went mental when I gave him bad feedback on eBay. He sent me five hissy-fit emails, indignant that I had sullied his online reputation. He whined that:*It was fine when he sent it*I could have complained to the Post Office*He would have refunded my money..."yada, yada, yada..."

I swear I could practically hear him crying over the internet...

Well to him I say... "Eat shit m**he**f**ker! I was just telling it like it was... Shit transaction from a tosser!" So HA!! It's me who has the last laugh! :) :) :)

If it seems like I've rejected this little soap box for a while, it's because of that zombie game and because I used to pad it out with loads of Saturn video, lifted off Youtube. Now for some reason Youtube hates me and won't let me post anything... If any of you could figure out why this might have occurred I'd be mighty grateful...

Without wishing to end on a negative note, the best thing thathas happened in my little world recently is watching Caleb's excellent Hunyak Blog flower into an encyclopaedic reference point that rivals the DCJY. I advise you all to check it out here...

Well it's happened again hasn't it? YEP! that's right I've gone and got myself sucked into another Resident EvilRPG...

Do you remember back in the day, when I made a broad statement that I hated the franchise?

I should have bloody stuck to it... BUT NO! I had to go and dig out RE CV from my Dreamcast collection , print out a walkthrough, fail to bloody follow it, get stuck on the boss at the end of the level... Followed by crying, wailing, abandoning the game... Consulting forums, pleading for help...

(And people this is absolutely true)... I OFFERED TO PAY THE BROTHER OF THE GUY THAT FIXES MY COMPUTER TO BEAT THE BOSS. HONESTLY!!!How shit is that??

It's actually made me cranky, antisocial, grumpy with my children and led to my wife becoming very impatient with my shortcomings...

And the worst thing? I haven't even finished it yet!!! Ijust keep going round and bloody round and back over old ground to "re-do" bits 'better' so that I can complete the bloody thing and have done with it!!!

On the plus side, it made me re-try the Resident Evil for Saturn, and in fact it's pretty bloody impressive! Nice video rendered cut scenes, decent gameplay and actually closer in nature and format to RE Code Veronica, than the wonderful RE4 that got me sucked into the franchise...

However, if like my good friend Gnome you are a Resident Evil virgin, may I strongly suggest you start with the Saturn version and them move forward through the franchise rather than the way I am doing it. Almighty Lord Jesus Deliver Us From (Resident) Evil...

There is something wrong about graphics and gameplay getting crapper as you make your way through each game in the series...

Tuesday, 13 February 2007

Forced into a bit of loft clearing in my half term holiday has made me realise how much EXCELLENT SHIT I have!... Like a little squirrel, over the last eighteen months I have been accumulating a video game horde that even I didn't realise I had!

I found my old Atari 2600 today!! And games!!! I've no idea how much stuff I've got!

Like I found a beautiful see through blue Japanese import Dreamcast controller... never opened or touched... I don't remember buying it! I've got tons and tons of it! Two big bin bags in the loft revealed FOUR boxed up Dreamcasts... I've got about twenty Master System games! Fifteen Game Gear games... All these Saturn games... Over a hundred Dreamcast games.

This is how it goes... I get them all in secret.

"WHAT??? What are you babbling on about Father Krishna? Are you blind drunk like when you wrote your last post?" I hear you ask...

NO! Not this time... I'm stone cold sobre... When I say secret it's a secret from Mrs. K.Like today... I had to do three trips to the local tip to get rid of al the clutter from the loft.This revealed some treasures like the Atari... But on the way back, I called into Gamestation...

I only wanted to look honest... but there was a whole new section of Dreamcast games...

Dragon's Blood and MDK2 (which I was reading a review of in Official Dreamcast Magazine whilst having a bath today) were there... beckoning me... calling me... flouting themselves for a fiver the pair... What is a man to do???

So I bought them... with a boxed up Dreamcast controller for 99p... and two Master System games for 99p the pair... Altered Beast and Kung Fu... Total cost £6.97. RESULT!!!

But then I went through the "sneaking them past Mrs. K" ritual...

Yes that's right! Sneaking them into the house!! The kids know the score... they know the routine... ("Straight up to your room kids then stash them with the others, so it looks like they've been here for years ..." and they do!!!God love them, they have their uses...

I could live like a king if I didn't do this... Holiday in the Carribean! Have a cocaine habit that would put Kate Moss to shame... or even own a Wii or 360 for feck's sake!!!

But all the time I just snap up the "odd bargain"... that keeps me and the family paupers!

BUT WITH THE BEST GODDAM RETRO GAMES COLLECTION THIS SIDE OF... WYTHENSHAWE!!!

So let's rejoice in my terrible compulsion!! The final results of my hording will be revealed soon...

For the first time on all my favourite sites I will reveal my entire stash!!! With photographic evidence!!!!

Monday, 12 February 2007

As Vinnie Jones, famous 'Hollywood' British 'actor'/WELSH??? Premiership Footballer & Grabber of Paul 'Gazza' Gascoine's testacles once said in some shit Guy Richie film or other.... "It's been emotional..."

And yet that could best describe my own personal 72 hours this weekend.

Wow! Starting with a promise to get back to Saturn related posts this weekend, I was thrilled to receive via eBay, my Sega Saturn 'Steering Wheel', for the quite bargaintastic price of £8 plus P + P! Yeah! I didn't even know this existed till I started this blog... It's official title is the "Arcade Racer" and I'm sure you'll agree that it's a good looking beast....

These babies go for a good thirty quid 'Boxed Up', and HEY! in retrospect, that would have seemed like a bargain!

Cos I got a crock of shit that doesn't actually work...

Having contacted the 'seller/thief ' he assured me that it worked just fine before he wrapped it up and entrusted it to the British postal service... Yeah right... Bite me you c**t...

Cardiff? I ask you???

C*NT!!! I got burned!!!!

OK thank Bob for Woolworths! For it was in that most Great British of institutions that I was not shafted up the a**e by some swindlingsausage jockey, Saturn Steering Wheel C**k S**ker Rip Off Merchant from f**cking Cardiff,

but was in fact sold five copies ofHouse Of The Dead 2 (PC PORT)for the rediculous price of £1 each by a most fabulous and quite attractive shop assistant called Rachel. She would have definitely (CENSORED BY THE SATURN JUNKYARD LEGAL TEAM)

Anyway, the disapointment of receiving a duff steering wheel has made me want to go to bed...

So I'm off... I will focus on the Saturn in the next post 'cos I've got a couple of new games that need mentioning. Until then lets hope the steering wheel swindling c**t from Cardiff gets *t***i**la* c***er the m**h**-f**k*** c*c*s***i*g C*NT!!!!*

Friday, 9 February 2007

Where the fuck is the Dreamcast's Kiss Psycho Circus? Or more importantly the Saturn's 'Revolution X' featuring Aerosmith? Chamone! I can't get the Scream video to appear on the SJY. Hope this will do instead... I suggest you click on the 'Scream' link in the aricle below, and type in "Scream Jackson" as a search... No doubt some of you will enjoy typing that...

Thursday, 8 February 2007

There's been a void in my life since I finished Resident Evil 4. I've tried to fill it with a few different games - House Of The Dead 2, which is a lovely 'Light Gun' Dreamcast 'Shump'where you can shoot as many zombies as you like whilst listening to piss poor voice acting. I've tried racing around and around on the wonderful Daytona USA 2001 and San Francisco Rush 2049, which are good in short spurts but don't keep you absorbed for hours like my beloved RE4.I even tried Resident Evil: Code Veronica, but it just wasn't the same, dammit!

I've played the Segata Sanshiro game which kept me entertained for all of ten minutes.So, somewhat desparate, I hooked up my old Master System and tried out Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, which I scored for £1.99 over the summer.

It's a nice little 2D side scrolling platformer, based on the film of the same name. I haven't got very far. Basically I'm just making MJ move back and forward, striking some great poses, whacking villains and opening doors. Every once in a while, a kid pops out and Jacko rescues him or her.

Now, because of the sorry business surrounding Jacko's bizarre existence and freakish look, people have an instant response to him. There is no middle ground. Either you love him, believe that he was set up by money hungry freeloaders, is an innocent, misguided, pure soul and one of the greatest performers who ever walked the earth... OR... You think he is an evil, child molesting, self publicising, deluded and egotistical arsehole who escaped justice, a racially and

sexually ambiguous freak.

Me? I fall into the first camp. I believe justice was done. I fucking love the man and his music.

He has an interesting video game history. Obviously his own gig in Moonwalker, plus cameos in the wonderful box-a-thon Ready2Rumble, and in the most fabulously camp dance-fest Space Channel 5.

The cover of his Dangerous album is one of my favourite pieces of art.

Click on the link to see one of my favourite tracks/videos of all times. "Scream." Anything with Janet in works for me.

And the Master System is great! I'm gonna play through all my games and let you know about them all, in a new Gnome inspired feature "Master System Monday". It won't be every Monday, I'm far to slack for that. But every once in a while, on a Monday, a 'new' Master System treasure will be unveiled...

In the meantime, enjoy/detest the video above...

Oh and I will focus back on the Saturn after this brief excursion, but if you read the intro to the blog, you'll see that I use this space for all manner of shite...

Monday, 5 February 2007

When I get into something, I get RIGHT INTO IT... I don't do things by half measures. January's obsession was the wonderful Segata Sanshiro, human face of the Sega Saturn on Japanese TV, way back in the nineties.

Last month if someone was selling a pair of soiled tramp's underpants on ebay, I'd have bid for them... as long as they'd had a picture of Segata Sanshiro on them, or were endorsed by him in some way.

Hell, I even set up a cult to the guy, although it didn't actually take off that well, only peaking at four members...(me, Elderly, Gnome and Seamus).

So you might be unsurprised to know that when I discovered that there was actually a game devoted to my idol and guru, I had to have it.

Thus I scoured the Internet for this Japanese only release, and was stunned to find that it arrived within 24 hours of me ordering it.

£24 including P + P. Now that is a lot to pay for a Saturn game, even a rare one, albeit a Japanese import. That could buy you ten Dreamcast games, twelve standard Saturn titles.It could buy you a ticket to go and watch Manchester City lose at home. I'm sure it could buy you the full works from one of the working girls down Whalley Range, and still leave you enough for a bag of chips and a taxi home....

In short it's a lot.

However, hell nor highwater would have stopped me from getting it, whilst I was in the "Sanshiro Zone", as I was just a week ago...

So what does the committed Sanshirophile get for his dough? Essentially a collection of 2D mini-games and puzzles. Very similar to those you find on sites like Miniclip or Funnygames, but all featuring the great man himself.

You can play as Segata Christmas, flying through the air and throwing presents down chimneys.

Or perhaps enjoy the 'Segata butting through stacks of roof-tiles challenge'...

Maybe you could while away the hours or minutes playing as Segata kicking items dropped off a cliff, into a skip.

Go crazy playing the Segata Sanshiro crazy hair style 'snap' game or enjoy my own particular favourite, entitled "Watch Segata Drown Whilst You Play A 'Columns' Style Game Against The Clock-a-thon"....

Heaven knows what the real game titles are because all the script is in Japanese... Suffice to say, that only the committed Segata Sanshiro obsessive would part with £24 for such a game...

As a bonus you get to watch the commercials you can watch for...erm... free on Youtube....

No wonder I'm a fucking pauper... If only I could curb my game collecting ways, I'd be sunning myself in the Carribbean right now (perhaps).

Bollocks! It's a one off collectors item, I own it, I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way...

Now for one last time let's all join in THAT song... 1,2,3... SAY-GAH-TA SAN-SHE-ROW...etc. etc...

We all love a bargain... I remember when I first started collecting for the Saturn as a "Retro Gamer" (as opposed to a curre...

Celebrating 11 years of existence...and 7 years of excellence

Welcome to The Saturn Junkyard, a shrine to Sega's sadly departed console, for all lovers of retro gaming. A place where you can come and relive the glory days of the nineties and find out about the Saturn as a console: We'll take a sideways look at it's games, it's peripherals, it's history, it's marketing, plus shine the occasional spotlight on console modding and the homebrew scene. We make no claims to being authoritative, and everything we discuss will come with a heavy dose of personal opinion and subjectivity. But hopefully we'll raise a smile or two along the way!